Improvement in invalid-chairs



aksnnwon. INVALID-CHAIR.

Patented Feb. 1, 18 76..

ATNBNEYS.

N-FEI'ERS, PI iOTO-UTHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON, D. O.

fonvEDn jB. SHELDON, on NE YORK, N. Y.

* IMPROVEMENT ININVALID-CHAIRS]! Specification forming partof Letters Patent-No. 173,071, dated February 1, 1876; application filed January 6,1876. 7

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEV DRA B. SHELDON, of the city, county, and State of New York,

have invented a new and useful Improvement in Easy-Chair and Lounge, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to that class of easy-- and which also fold up for storing away com- I pactly; and the invention'consists of an improved contrivance of the adjusting back-support; also, improved contrivance of the adjusting foot-support; and, also, of the cane bottom of the foot-support, all as hereinafter described. v

Figure l is a side elevation of myimproved chair and lounge, arranged for an easy-chair. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same contrived for a lounge, and Fig. 3 is a plan View of Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre sponding parts.

A is the back; B, the arms, and O'the front standards for the arms, the standards and the back being jointed to the seat-frame D, and the arms-being jointed to the standards and the back in the usual way, so that the back can be shifted up and down.

My improvement of this'part of the chair consists of the ratchet-bars F, attached to the sides of the seat-frame, in combination with the arms E, rigidly. attached to, and connected by, a rod, S,'passing beneath the seat, the said arms carrying upon the inner sides pawls a, which engage with the ratchet bars. The arms E are pivoted to the standards C, so as to allow the pawls a to rest from their own-gravity, and that of the hanging-rod S, naturally upon the ratchets, for holding the back up. With this arrangement the pawls cannot, in

4 any way,.fall or otherwise escape from the ratchets, and let. the back fall, as when they are pivoted on the seat and engage a notched bar on the standard, and when raising the back they engage self-actingly, to secure it when raised to the height wanted, whereas in the other arrangement they have to be engaged every time byv hand, which is objectionable. The rack-bars F I attach to the seats of the chair, below the upper edge of the bars D, leaving rooln'thereby between the point of the engagement of the pawl with the'ratchet and the upper'side of the seat, to prevent all catching in the clothing. The arms E extend some distance belowthe seat, and thereby bring the pawls .near the center of gravity of the said arms, thus diminishing the chances of accidental displacement. The bar S, connecting the arms, holds the pawls in proper lateral position, makes them both operate simultaneously, and its weight, being below the 1 pointof suspension, gives steadiness to the devices, and insuresthe automatic engagement of the pawls with the ratchets. G is the footrest frame, which is pivoted to the chair-seat,

in the ordinary way, at H, and-has legs I, to

hold it up for a bed, and also'to hold it at diiferent inclinations for a foot-rest to the chair. Commonly these legs have had a series of notches in the under side to catch on the cross-bar J, to hold the restup more or less;

but the arrangement is unsatisfactory, as the notches have to be a certain width for the thickness of the bars, and a certain distance apart for strength, which, together, prevent making the adjustment as fine as is desired. I therefore attach a thin pa-WLbIade, K, to the ends of these legs, and attach firmlynotched ratchet-bars L to the chair-legs, to receive the same, and thus'obtain the fine adjustment desired. These legs have to beattached to the foot-rest at the middle, to serve well forthe braces; but in this location they do not serve well for legs to the lounge, because it will tilt up in case a person sitsdown' on the end projecting over the legs; therefore I connect the legs to it bythelinks M, pivoted to the frame at N, so as to swing out under the end rail to support the lounge, and swing back the other way, under the pivot-rod Q, to

When the foot-rest frame G folds over on the chair-seat it turns bottom up, which has made it necessary to make the 'cane part R double, to render it suitable for sitting on when the chair is to be used without the foot-rest. To save the cost of duplicating it, I now make the cane part reversible on pivot-rod Q, or any approved device, so that it can be kept rightside up while the frame is turned over.

To hold the reversible foot-rest in proper.

position, I construct it with recesses b upon its unfinished side, and construct one of the bars of the containing-frame withlugs c on a line with its longitudinal center.

The recesses in the seat are by this arrangement out of sight, and upon the unfinished side, and one set of l'ugs is made to perform double duty by receiving a diflerent set of recesses in the different positions of the rest, to a connecting-rod S beneath the seat,rigidly attached to the pendent extremities of the arms, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The pawl-plate K on the foot-rest braces 1, in combination with ratchet-bars L, attached to the chair-legs, substantially as specified.

3. The foot-rest braces I,connected to the foot-rest G by the links M, arranged to swing out under the end bar of the foot-rest frame, and backunder the pivot-rod Q, substantially as specified.

4. The reversible foot-rest R, having recesses 11 upon its unfinished side, in combination with the frame G, having a single set'of lugs, a, located in the central line of the bar, as and for the purpose described. i

, GEVEDRA B. SHELDON. Witnesses:

SoLoN O. Knmoiv, CHAS. A. PETTIT. 

